Railway



c. A. GRIFFITH May 5, 1925.

RAILWAY Filed March 1'7, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet l ab tozwa q May 5, 1925. 1,536,789

0. A. GRIFFITH RAILWAY Filed March 17, 192 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 gwoentoz mdlwj k, 8 2 fl u k/ May 5, 1925;

C. A. GRIFFITH RAILWAY Filed March 17, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 NAN gnwn toz May 5, 1925. 1,536,789

C. A. GRIFFITH RAILWAY Filed March 17, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 had to t Patented May 5, 1925.

PATENT, OFFICE.

CHARLES A. GRIFFITH, 0F KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

RAILWAY.

Application filed March 17, 1923. Serial No. 825,788.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. GRIFFITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Knoxville, in the county of Knox and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railways, of which the followin is a specification, reference being he accompanying drawing.

My improvement relates particularly to railway cars having hinged bottom doors adapted to be closed for holding a load of material and to be released for discharging the material.

For example of such cars I refer to United States Patent, No. 1,268,344, granted to me June 4, 1918, and United States Patent, No.

1,268,390, granted to Hugh W. Sanforld, June 4, 1918.

In the cars shown by those patents, there are three hinged bottom doors. The object of this invention is to provide a similar car having two hinged bottom doors arranged relative to each other and associated with other devices in a manner forming a carv desirable for use under certain conditions and to meet certain needs.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a car and a portion of a track illustrating my improvement;

Fig. 2 is a plan'of the car shown in Fig.

Fig. 3 is a transverse upright section immediately at the rear of the car, whereby the bumper is omitted;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the car, portions being broken away;

Fig. 5 .is a longitudinal, upright section showing the car in engagement with means for raising the bottom doors;

Fig. 6 is an upright, transverse section on {hfe line, 6-6, of Fig. 5, looking toward the Fig. 7 is an upright, transverse section on the line, 7-7, of Fig. 5, looking toward the left. 7

Referring to said drawings: A A are track rails resting on'ties, A. B B are ordinary car wheels applied to the ends of axles, C

and C". D is the body of the car. D are car and it is to be understood that the car moves forward for dumping and for closing the doors after the load has been discharged from the car. The discharge is downward between the rails, A-',' and the place at which the discharge is effected is called the dumpin station. Beneath the rails, A, the material discharged from the car may be received by a chute or another car or any other suitable device, not shown.

E is the forward door. This is placed between the side sills and has its forward end hinged to the horizontal "hinge rod, E having its ends supported by the side sills 11); means of any number of hinged members,

Said door extends rearward beneath the forward axle, C, and is then extended obliquely rearward and upward and adapted to be engaged and held by the second or rear door as will now be described.

The second or rear door, E is placed beneath the side sills and has its forward end secured by any number of hinged members, E to the horizontal, transverse, hinge rod, E, having its ends supported by the side sills midway between the 'ends of the car and between the axles. the door, E, are turned obliquely upward between the side sills. The upper faces of the hinged members, E, are concentric to the hinge rod, E. The adjacent end edge of the door, E is similarly curved and rests upon. and is secured to said hinged members. The rear end of the rear door is normally supported by latch mechanism hereinafter described.

The rear end of the forward door is ofright plane transverse to the length of the:

car are a pair of large bell cranks,'F, pivoted at F to the car.

Each of said bell cranks has a downwarddirected hook, F adapted to extend beneath the adjacent bar or arm, F each bell crank being so arranged as to bring its ivot, F above its hook, whereby the arm arin the hook may swing downward and away rom the upright, middle, longitudinal plane of the car while the arm, F of the bell crank extends horizontally outward and Both ends of by its predominating weight tends to tilt the bell crank so as to move said hook toward said plane. Each of said hooks has a bevel face, F adapted to be engaged by the adjacent arm or bar, F when the latter is carried upward by the upward movement of the rear part of the door into the closed position.

When said bars, F thus rest on the hooks, F said door is held firmly in its upper or closed position, and this condition continues until said hooks are moved outward far enough to allow the arms, F to descend. Said hooks are made to move outward by raising the horizontal arms, F, of the bell cranks. To cause said arms to raise automatically, a cam member, A is placed at each side of the track in position to engage the lower edge of the adjacent ,bell crank arm, F and cause said arm to rise upward on said cam member during the further forward movement of the car, the arm, Fi being extended far enough to bring said cam member into the path of said arms.

It is to be observed that said door will not become released unless both arms, F

are raised. Hence this door will not become released through the accidental raising of one of said arms by means other than one of said cam members. Thus the latch mechanism is duplex, and both parts thereof must operate simultaneously before the door becomes released.

To prevent the material in the car from resting upon the axles, C C, and the meet ing ends of the two bottom doors, a sheet metal cover plate, G, is extended over the axles and the parts of the doors which are between the axles. Said plate extends horizontally from one side of the car to the other and slants forward and backward. Its front and rear edges extend downward beside the axles. The end edges of said plate are secured to the side walls of the car body by means of metal angle bars, G riveted to said plate and said walls.

When the rear door is in the closed position and held by the latch mechanism, and the rear end of the forward door rests on the forward end of the rear door, as already described, then the car bottom is in position to receive and hold the load of material placed into the car body. When the latch mechanism is released by the cams 0!? otherwise at the dumping station, the rear end of that door falls and the forward end turns on the hinge rod, E whereby the curved forward edge of the rear door is carried rearward from beneath the rear edge of the forward door. Thus the rear edge of the forward door is released, whereupon the rear end of said door falls, the door turning on the forward hinge rod, E Upon the falling of the two doors, the material supported by the doors and the cover the rear door has in the same manner engaged the inclined portion of said cam and has been forced upward thereby. When the rear door has been thus forced upward, the arms, F engage the bevel faces, F, of the hooks, F and force said hooks sidewiseuntil said arms are above said hooks, whereupon the latter move inward into position beneath said arms. After this has been done, the doors pass successively out of engagement with the cam meniber,A?. Assoon as the for ward door is out of such. engagement, its rear end falls slightly until' its rear edge rests'upon the forward edge of the rear door; and as soon as the rear door passes out of engagement with said cam member, the rear end of said door falls far enough to cause the arms, F to descend and rest fully upon the hooks, F

' By using the hinge rod, E, at the middle of the car to support the forward end of the rear door and through the latter support the rear end of the forward door, the placing of the axles, C and C is not limited relative to the ends of the doors. On the contrarv. the two axles may be so placed as to obtain any desired wheel base.

I claim as my invention,

1. In a structure of the kind described, the combination of a car body, two axles carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod between and parallel to said axles, a bottom door hinged by one edge to said rod and extending thencerearward under the rear axle, and latch mechanism adapted to operate to secure and support the opposite edge of said door when the latter is forced upward into the closed position, substantially as described.

2. In a structure of the kind described, the combination of a car body, two axles carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod between and parallel to said axles, a bottom door hinged by one edge to said rod and extending t ence rearward under the rear axle, automatic latch mechanism adapted to operate to secure and support the opposite edge of said door when the latter is forcedupward into the closed position, and relatively stationary means extending into the'path of said latch mechanism to actuate the latter for the release of said door, substantially as described.

3. In a structure of the kind described, the combination of a car body, two axles carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod located between and parallel to said axles, a door hinged by its forward edge to said rod and extending under the rear axle and to the rear end of the car, latch mechanism at the rear end of the car for supporting the rear edge of said door, and a second door hinged to the forward end of the car on a line which is horizontal and transverse to the length of said body and said door extending rearward under the forward axle and resting on the forward edge of the rear door when said doors are in the closed position, substantially as described.

4. In a structure of the kind described, the combination of a car body, two axles carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod located between and parallel to said axles, a door hinged by its forward edge to said rod and extending under the rear axle and to the rear end of the car, automatic latch mechanism at the rear end of the car for supporting the rear edge of said door, a second door hinged to the forward end of the car on a line which is horizontal and transverse to the length of said body "and said door extending rearward under the forward axle and resting on the forward edge of the rear door when said doors are in the closed position, and relatively stationary means extending into the path of said latch mechanism to actuate the latter for the release of said door, substantially as described.

5. In a structure of the kind described,

. the combination of a car body, two axles said latch mechanism carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod located between and parallel to said axles, a door hinged by its forward edge to said rod and extending under the rear axle and to the rear end of the car, automatic latch mechanism at the rear end of the car for sup-porting the rear edge of said door, a second doorhinged to the forward end of the car on a line which is horizontal and transverse to the length of said body and said door extending rearward under the forward axle and resting on the forward edge of the rear door when said doors are in the closed position, relatively stationary means extending into the path of to actuate the latter for the release of said door, and relatively stationary means for turning said doors upward into the closed position, substantially as described.

6. In a structure of the kind described, the combination of a car body, two a xles carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod between and parallel to said axles, a bottom door hinged by one edge to said rod and extending thence rearward under the rear axle, latch mechanism adapted to operate to secure and support the opposite edge of said door when the latter is forced upward into the closed position, and means above the axles for supporting the material forming the load, substantially as described.

7. In a structure of the kind described, the combination of a car body, two axles carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod located between and parallel to said axles, a door hinged by its forward edge to said rod and extending under the rear axle and to the rear end of the car, latch mechanism at the rear end of the car for supporting the rear edge of said door, a second door hinged to the forward end of the car on a line which isv horizontal and transverse to the length of said body and said door extending rearward under the forward axle and resting on the forward edge of the rear door when said doors are in the closed position, and means above the axles for supporting the material forming the load, substantially as described.

8. In a structure of the kind described, the'combination. of a car body, two axles carrying said body, wheels carrying said axles, a hinge rod located between and parallel to said axles, hinge members seated on and rising above said rod and having upper faces concentric with the axial line of said rod, a door. secured by its forward edge to said hinge members and extending under the rear axle and to the rear end of the car, latch mechanism at the rear end of the car for supporting the rear edge of said door,

and a second door hinged to the forward end of the car on a line which is horizontal and transverse to the length of said body and said door extending rearward under the forward axle and resting on the forward edge of the rear door when said doors are in the closed position, substantially as described.

9. In a structure of the kind described, the combination of a car body, two axles carrying said body, wheels carrying sa d axles, a cover plate extending crosswise 1n the lower part of said body, a first bottom door hinged by its forward end forward of said cover plate and extending beneath said plate, a second door having its forward end hinged beneath the cover plate in operative relation with the rear end of the first bottom door for holding the rear end of said first door in the closed position when the second bottom door is in the closed position, and latch mechanism at the rear of the second door, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name, this 6th day of March, in the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three.

CHARLES A. GRIFFITH.

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